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<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; Wealthy Wilkes-Barre native Florence Foster Jenkins, who filled Carnegie Hall in 1944 with people who didn&#8217;t mind, or perhaps even enjoyed, the way she &#8220;murdered the high-Cs&#8221; with her shrieking, off-key voice, was far from a shrinking violet.</p><p>As actress Meryl Streep recently told National Public Radio&#8217;s Terry Gross, Jenkins on one occasion &#8220;dressed as a flamenco dancer with very elaborate Spanish combs in her hair&#8221; and tossed &#8220;maybe four dozen roses into the audience&#8221; as she sang.</p><p>Encouraged by cries of &#8220;bravo,&#8221; Jenkins gathered the roses back and performed an encore.</p><p>&#8220;I so wanted that to be in the movie,&#8221; Streep admitted. &#8220;But we had to draw the line somewhere.&#8221;</p><p>Even without that particular scene from Jenkins&#8217; life, the film &#8220;Florence Foster Jenkins,&#8221; which stars Streep in the title role, will give today&#8217;s audiences a glimpse into the unusual life of a woman born in 1868 to a wealthy Wilkes-Barre couple and who, by all accounts, truly loved music.</p><p>Opening this weekend at Cinemark in Moosic and other theaters across the United States, the film will draw people like Joni Godlewski, of West Pittston, who admits she&#8217;ll gladly watch any movie with Streep in the cast.</p><p>It will also draw people like Godlewski&#8217;s husband, Bill, who prefers sports to movies, but wants to see this one because of the local connection.</p><p>That goes double, or maybe triple, for soprano Christine Donahue, a Wyoming Valley native who last year appeared in a two-person stage play called &#8220;Souvenir&#8221; based on Jenkins&#8217; life. The Kingston Historical Society sponsored the play at Wyoming Seminary&#8217;s Kirby Center for Creative Arts, where students were amazed to learn what Jenkins sounded like.</p><p>Donahue, who is part of the music faculty at University of Central Arkansas, said it was fun to deliberately sing off-key and she hoped Streep enjoyed the chance to do that, too. &#8220;I&#8217;m excited to see it,&#8221; she said of the movie.</p><p>Streep appears in the film with Hugh Grant as Jenkins&#8217; &#8220;husband&#8221;/manager St. Clair Bayfield and Simon Helberg &#8212; he plays Howard Wolowitz on television&#8217;s &#8220;The Big Bang Theory&#8221; &#8212; as her accompanist Cosme McMoon.</p><p>Stephen Frears, who also has &#8220;The Queen&#8221; and &#8220;Philomena&#8221; to his credits, is the director.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Christine Donahue </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/web1_christinedona-2.jpg</photo0><caption0>Christine Donahue </caption0><photoCredit0>Submitted photo </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/web1_florence.foster.jenkins-2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Born to a wealthy family in Wilkes-Barre in 1868, Florence Foster Jenkins became a New York socialite and well-known singer. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/web1_florence.foster.jenkins-2.jpg</photo1><caption1>Born to a wealthy family in Wilkes-Barre in 1868, Florence Foster Jenkins became a New York socialite and well-known singer. </caption1><photoCredit1>Library of Congress photo </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/web1_merylasflorence-2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Meryl Streep and Hugh Grant star in a still from the movie &#8216;Florence Foster Jenkins.&#8217; </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/web1_merylasflorence-2.jpg</photo2><caption2>Meryl Streep and Hugh Grant star in a still from the movie &#8216;Florence Foster Jenkins.&#8217; </caption2><photoCredit2>Library of Congress photo </photoCredit2></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p><strong>By Mary Therese Biebel</strong></p><p>mbiebel@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Mary Therese Biebel at 570-991-6109 or on Twitter @BiebelMT.</p></shirttailMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><videoMeta><p><table class="mceItemTable" style="border:none;width:98%;"><tbody><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">VideoID:</td><td id="videoid" style="width:50em;font-size:90%;">A61eRSc7S_M</td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">VideoType:</td><td id="videotype" style="font-size:90%;">YOUTUBE</td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">URL:</td><td id="url" style="font-size:90%;">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A61eRSc7S_M</td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;"></p><p></td><td id="videoembedstring" style="font-size:90%;">&lt;iframe width=&#8221;560&#8221; height=&#8221;315&#8221; src=&#8221;https://www.youtube.com/embed/A61eRSc7S_M&#8221; frameborder=&#8221;0&#8221; allowfullscreen&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;</td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Caption:</td><td id="videocaption" style="font-size:90%;">Florence Foster Jenkins was famous for her awful singing, we asked some of the best singers we could find what they thought of her voice.</td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Credit:</td><td id="videocredit" style="font-size:90%;">Aimee Dilger | Times Leader</td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Position:</td><td id="videoposition" style="font-size:90%;"> </td></tr></tbody></table></p><p style="margin-top:10px;font-size:70%;color:#555;">(use the &#8220;for files&#8230;&#8221; link above to associate attached files with this source)</p></videoMeta></div>

Streep appears in movie about Wilkes-Barre’s ‘Florence Foster Jenkins’